


The Marauder's Clan

by Poetry



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Canon Compliant, Drama, Gen, POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-21
Updated: 2010-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-09 02:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/81777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poetry/pseuds/Poetry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justice comes in many forms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Marauder's Clan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yamx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yamx/gifts).



> Written for Yamx for the Support Stacie April Author Auction, and speedily beta-read by [ninamusing](http://www.whofic.com/viewuser.php?uid=3882). As a bonus, have a [drawing](http://cl.ly/Lj8) of the POV character. The prompt will be revealed at the end.

Just when my clan had given up hope of ever finding the Human With Shining Teeth, I caught his scent in the midst of the Bazaar Pulqrez.

There were two humanoids nearby, speaking to each other with their fleshy mouthparts. The smaller one with the yellow mane smelled human. The tall one covered in animal skin smelled like nothing I had ever encountered in all my long cycles buying and selling at the Bazaar. But at that moment, I didn't care. All that mattered was the scent of the Human With Shining Teeth that hung around them, an intangible cloud.

At once, I set all my instruments blinking and humming, hoping to draw their attention. I knew it was likely my clan's only chance to find the Human With Shining Teeth, and I could not allow the opportunity to pass away. The bright lights of the diode array caught the eye of the Yellow-Maned Human, who pointed in my direction with a small pink finger.

As the humanoids approached, I could gather a wealth of information from their scents. The Yellow-Maned Human was female, with many strange smells layered over her human scent. They spoke of many travels to distant lands. She must have been rich and powerful to be able to make such great journeys. I felt a stab of awe and fear. Her companion's unidentifiable scent also frightened me. Yet the spoor of the Human With Shining Teeth was fresh and ingrained deep into their skin and garments. That meant they were his intimate relations, what I would have called his clan-fellows if they were of my kind - but who knew how humanoids associated among themselves? Nevertheless, wherever these two went, the Human With Shining Teeth would not be far off.

I raised my hands in greeting when they reached my tent. The Yellow-Maned Human stopped and turned her head to her companion. "He's saying hello to us in sign language! I didn't know the TARDIS did sign language." I privately wondered how she could sound so surprised, yet still understand what I said. Then again, spoken language always surprised me no matter how often I heard it in the Bazaar; unlike the Yellow-Maned Human, I simply kept that opinion to myself.

"'Course she does. The Sirinof can't talk like we do. They haven't got tongues, or even vocal cords." He raised his hands and approximated a greeting as best he could with only ten fingers. I was surprised to note that he used the particular inflections specific to my clan - certain flicks of the wrist and crooks of the thumb that I would recognize anywhere. "I'm the Doctor, and this is Rose. Good to do business with you, heir of Torikai," he said aloud.

"You know my clan?" I said, fingers dancing with curiosity and nerves.

"Oh, we go back," he said, and although he'd greeted me with a charming flourish of his hands, there was darkness and power within him too. "All the way back to the First Torikai. I was at his side as he wandered through the Barren Lands in search of a clan-home. I helped him banish the Sleeping Ones to the Grey Farness. I looked on as he dug the first dens of your people."  Then he sprang to life, waving a strange device at my instruments. "Nice Tesla coil you've got here. Might do for some repairs. Watch this, Rose." He pointed the device in his hand at the spark gap of the Tesla coil, and lightning leapt from it in purple flashes.

My mind raced as the Yellow-Maned Human made high-pitched gasps of delight at the sight of the sparking Tesla coil. I heard them speak to each other as if from far away. What I had just heard was impossible. The stranger had spoken the secret histories of Clan Torikai, passed on through the generations in the nimble hands of the Storytellers. The Storytellers would never reveal the legends to an outsider. But the most impossible thing of all was who the stranger claimed to be. There were only two who could call down banishment on the Sleeping Ones and send them screaming to the Farness: the First Torikai and the Marauder.

The clan histories described the First Torikai in reverent detail, from the muskiness of his scent to the expressive twirl of his fingers. The deeds of the Marauder were enshrined in legend, but the alien himself was a cipher. He was called "the constant stranger"; he could never be one of us, but to pay him disrespect was to bring ruin upon the clan. He was said to smell of the dust of a thousand travels, with the harsh metallic tang of blood never far beneath.

I waved my antennae once more. A flood of sensory impressions came in. There were layers upon layers of alien sands and winds embedded so deeply into the animal skin he wore that the garment seemed indistinguishable from the journey. Beneath the dense fog of smells there lingered the scent of rusting metal, and of blood.

It couldn't be. Common sense decreed that it could not, yet the word "impossible" meant nothing to the Marauder. Somehow, the Human With Shining Teeth had tricked him and his blessed companion, the Yellow-Maned Human. It was the only way the Marauder could have let him long enough to ingrain his spoor so deeply in his skin. I would open the Marauder's eyes to the truth, and my clan would finally taste revenge.

I clicked my fingers, prompting the Marauder and the Yellow-Maned Human to look up and watch me speak. "Marauder, blessed clan-fellow of the Marauder, forgive my interruption. I must warn you of a danger in your midst."

"Danger?" said the Yellow-Maned Human, and I could smell the acrid tang of adrenaline rush through her body. "What danger?" She looked around, as if expecting someone to leap out of hiding and attack. The Marauder just watched me steadily.

"Not immediate danger. Please do not be alarmed. You must, however, be on your guard." I flattened my crest solemnly. "Three cycles ago, my clan sought to buy a new interplanetary skipper so we could expand our trading networks. A human trader approached us with a top-of-the-line model at an affordable price. We bought the craft with five cycles' worth of our resources. As soon as the trader left, the holographic illusion he had placed around the craft faded away. It was an ancient model, barely suitable to break atmosphere. Since then, we have been reduced to selling off all our inventory simply to feed ourselves. What you see here is the last of our salable items." I gestured to the sorry remains of what was once a trade network spanning continents. "My clan is on the verge of ruin because of this swindler. We call him the Human With Shining Teeth. We have long searched for him without success. His capture would not save us from ruin, but it would restore our honor." I squinted a little at the Marauder. "You knew the First Torikai, Marauder. You must understand."

The Marauder nodded. "The First Torikai had pride in his people. He wouldn't have wanted to see you disgraced."

"We'll help find whoever did this to you," said the Yellow-Maned Human. "Is he nearby? Is that why you're in danger?"

My antennae drooped. The humanoids were so quick to volunteer their help, and I had to deliver them terrible news. "Forgive me for what I am about to say, but I fear it is the truth. Your clan-fellow, the adult male - he is the Human With Shining Teeth."

"Hang on a minute!" the Yellow-Maned Human said, her voice going shrill. "How does he…she…whatever know that Jack is our friend? Have we been followed all over this place?"

"Clan Torikai does not sneak or stalk," I said, my crest rising defensively. "I merely scented him on you. I really am sorry, blessed, but your clan-fellow is a swindler. He cannot be trusted."

"Was a swindler," the Marauder said. "We know that. But not anymore."

"You know?" My crest was fully raised and bristling. "You know, and yet you shelter him from the Law?"

The Marauder leaned toward me until I could sense his cool breath on the tips of my antennae, suffused with hints of iron and a human beverage called tea. "Tell me, heir of Torikai. What does the Law decree to be a just punishment for a swindler?"

Suddenly, there was a rush of air behind me as the back of the tent opened and someone stepped through. I heard a voice, the voice that I never thought I would hear again until I caught that long-sought scent in the Bazaar. "I guess I'll find out," said the Human With Shining Teeth.

A fresh torrent of adrenaline coursed through the Yellow-Maned Human at the sight of him. "Jack! What are you doing?"

I cursed my lapse of attention. I should have scented him as he came up behind the tent, but I had been completely focused on the Marauder. The Human With Shining Teeth reached inside one of his garments, withdrew a weapon, and laid it on the floor. Then he raised his arms above his head. "Take me to your clan. Deal with me according to your laws." His voice grew so quiet I had to strain to hear. "It's only what I deserve."

I reeled in surprise. Why would the Human With Shining Teeth turn himself in? He must have known where I was. He could have easily fled. At first I thought it might have been out of fear of the Marauder, but I could smell no fear on him. I could smell a cold sweat on his skin, but what would make the Human With Shining Teeth sweat if not fear?

"No, Jack! You can't!" the Yellow-Maned Human shouted.

"And why not?" I demanded. "Why not, when he has done my clan such a great wrong? When our young ones might be left with nothing? Do you want to know what the punishment is for a swindler, Marauder? Watch me tell you now. For a clan-fellow, the sentence is exile, the worst possible punishment. For an outsider, there is a universal broadcast of the crimes committed so that the offender will be known for a criminal in every place. Then the offender is indentured to the clan for five cycles, and serves the sentence carrying out the clan's most miserable and disgraceful work. All this, and the suffering the Human With Shining Teeth shall feel will be but a fraction of the ruin that awaits the next generation of Clan Torikai."

"She's right, Rose," the Human With Shining Teeth said. "You know what I'm capable of. What I did to them - I should be punished."

The Yellow-Maned Human opened her mouth to reply, but I clicked my fingers to cut her off and said, "Now I have a question for you, Marauder, clan-fellow of the Marauder. Three cycles ago, the Human With Shining Teeth robbed my clan without remorse. Why does he now submit to the justice of Clan Torikai? And why would you prevent him?"

"Let me tell you about Captain Jack Harkness." The Marauder bared his teeth and began to exude a smell like ozone and hot metal. It made me shrink back from him, for it sharply reminded me of why the alien was so revered in legend. "Your punishment for a swindling clan-fellow is exile, the worst disgrace of all. When you met the Captain, he had no clan. Can you guess what he'd done to deserve that sentence?"

"No, Marauder." My fingers shook as I spoke.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Behind me, I heard the Human With Shining Teeth make a wordless noise in his chest, but it wasn't from pain or fear, for I would have scented it. "You don't know what it is to be an exile, heir of Torikai. They tell you what it's like in the stories, but you've never felt it. You've never been desperate and alone without knowing why. Once you've been through that, then you can tell me what justice is."

"What the Human With Shining Teeth went through is terrible beyond my understanding, but it does not absolve him of what he has done," I said, surprised at my own daring. It was possibly blasphemous, or at the very least mad, to argue with the Marauder.

"Look at him!" the Yellow-Maned Human exclaimed. "Or smell him, or listen to him, I don't care! You think he doesn't remember what he did, every single day? You think he doesn't have nightmares? Whatever punishment you want to put him through can't be any worse than what he does to himself."

I waved an antenna at the Human With Shining Teeth. I could smell the salt of his unshed tears.

"It's your turn to listen, heir of Torikai. These are the terms of the Captain's punishment, not as I've demanded, but the ones he's set for himself. He feels so unworthy of his own clan that he would exile himself for the sake of justice. He looks at us and knows we forgive him, and it _burns_ because he doesn't for one moment think he deserves it." He put his face uncomfortably close to mine. "That is the justice of the Marauder's Clan. Do you abdicate jurisdiction for his crime?"

"I do." I stepped back to open a space between the Human With Shining Teeth and his clan-fellows. The Yellow-Maned Human rushed forth to meet him, wrapping her arms around him. The Marauder simply touched him lightly on the shoulder. Something passed between them that I could not detect; humanoids express their feelings with their faces in ways too subtle and strange for my understanding.

For a moment, I wondered which punishment I would choose if I were in the human's stead. Would I submit to the justice of a foreign clan, or live tormented by my shame before my clan-fellows? I decided I would rather be indentured and humiliated than live that way - but then again, I mused as I watched the three clan-fellows embrace, the swindler's choice seemed to have its own rewards.

* * *

On my way back to the homestead that evening, I found a note in my saddlebag written in the elegant hieroglyphics of Clan Torikai. It bore the distinctive scent of the Marauder.

_The Captain and I did a scan of the Torikai homeland. We discovered a vein of smoke opal in the border territory to the east. The coordinates are attached. If you work cautiously, you can mine it at a profit without polluting your homeland. _

_Rose gave the children flowers from fifteen different worlds, and enough kesel-root to feed them all for the next half-cycle._

When I returned to the homestead, all the children rushed forward to meet me. They smelled sweetly of many travels, and as their hands danced in greeting, a rainbow of petals fell from their fingers.

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** "Nine-OT3, established relationship. While visiting some planet, space station, or other interesting sight seeing spot, the OT3 run into someone Jack ruined (exact circumstances up to you) during his time as a conman."


End file.
